Before I started my training, I read Stephen Frosh's A Brief Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory. I picked it up a few days ago and thoroughly enjoyed it once again. Early on, he has a few important things to say about the values of psychoanalysis:
'... people seek meaning through interpreting their own actions and thoughts and those of others. ... [O]ne universal characteristic of people is that they try to find ways to work out what they are 'about' and - on the whole - they do this in the context of their relationships with others. We go through life reflecting on ourselves to a greater or lesser extent: and it is not only a psychoanalytic truism to think that the depth and extent of someone's capacity for such reflection might be a measure of their standing as a person.'
'Psychoanalysis promotes a rigorous practice of thinking that cannot be rushed, that demands time and patience, and that is based on a kind of ethical assumption that it is worth pursuing what one might call a 'truthful' approach to living even if this is difficult and at times painful to do. Consequently, psychoanalysis has never been satisfied with 'quick fix' cures for psychological symptoms.'
'Psychoanalysis stands for something serious, slow, thoughtful, uncertain and complicated. This does not always go down well in rushed societies demanding instant solutions, and characterized by short attention spans and a tendency to want to control dissent and disagreement.'
I think the therapeutic value of psychoanalytic psychotherapy is intimately bound up with these values. To be heard, to be understood, in the context of valuing deep, long-term, committed but uncertain reflection is the way our most profound experiences can be processed.
I have also been reading The Freudian Moment by Christopher Bollas. He makes the striking claim that psychoanalysis is an 'evolutionary accomplishment'. He writes:
'The Freudian moment arrived soon after the discovery of mass armaments that would kill tens of thousands of people. The horrors of the twentieth century are a warning that we are on the verge of extinction. Either we understand others and ourselves, we find a way to think about our conflicts with one another, to analyse destructive processes, or we cease to exist. I think psychoanalysis heralded the arrival of the best means to think about destructive processes.'
I mentioned this to Sian Morgan and she added, psychoanalysis is also the best hope we have to do the work required to secure the love we have that is innate but makes us so vulnerable.
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